You need to sweat the small stuff. That means making certain that
your résumé includes these nine basic elements:

1. Contact information

This may seem obvious, but candidates sometimes forget to include
basic information like their email address, or they bury it at
the bottom. "Include your name, phone number, email, and URL to
your LinkedIn profile right at the top of the page," executive
career coach and founder of Résumé Writers' Ink Tina
Nicolai says. "And you don't need to include your home address."

Executive résumé writer Mary Elizabeth
Bradford suggests including just one phone number
and email address. "Some people will include their home and cell
numbers, for example — but I find multiple contact choices to be
confusing. Make it easy for your reader to understand how to
contact you."

2. Professional title

When someone reviews your résumé, there should be no question as
to the type of role you're seeking, says Amanda Augustine, a
career-advice expert for TopResume. "Make sure your
goals are crystal clear by including a professional title at the
top of your résumé, such as 'Senior Accounting Professional' or
'Marketing & Sales Associate,' just below your contact
information and above your career narrative (what I usually call
the 'professional summary')."

3. Keywords from the job posting

You'll want to include (without making it look like you did a lot
of copying and pasting) some keywords and phrases from the job
posting. This is especially important if the employer uses a
résumé-scanning system.

Augustine says in addition to eyeballing job descriptions that
are relevant to your job search and pulling out the most commonly
used keywords, you can also copy and paste a number of the job
descriptions into JobScan.co to identify the
most frequently mentioned terms and see how your résumé measures
up.

"You get up to five scans for free, so I recommend scanning your
résumé against a number of job descriptions (3-5) at the same
time to get the most out of the service and get a better
aggregate of the terms you should be using."

4. Accomplishments and achievements

Employers need to know what you've done to contribute to the
growth of your department, team, and company to determine whether
your strengths align with the needs and responsibilities of their
company and the job opening, Nicolai says.

Under each job title and description, include the most important,
impressive, and relevant achievements.

5. Your career narrative

"No matter if you are constructing a functional résumé or a
chronological résumé, some kind of professional history is
critical," Bradford says. "But make sure your story makes for a
more interesting read."

6. Metrics

"Employers need numbers to be able to fully evaluate the scope of
your bandwidth," Nicolai says. "No position is exempt from
measuring results. And metrics help employers determine if a
person is capable of leading a team, managing clients, or growing
the business."

Metrics are also a great way to back up your achievements.

For instance, instead of just saying, "Helped grow revenue," say
something like, "Helped grow revenue by 500% to $1 million in 12
month period by doing X."

7. Certifications and credentials

If you have a certification or advanced degree that's considered
to be an asset in your field, such as an MBA or RN, include it
after your name at the very top of your résumé, suggests
Augustine. "You don't need to include the acronym for your
undergraduate degree or a certification that's not relevant to
your current job goals. "

She says you should "still add details about these credentials in
the education and professional development section of your
résumé. Since this section usually appears at the end of your
résumé, adding the acronyms after your name ensures the recruiter
doesn't accidentally miss this important information when they're
quickly scanning your job application."

8. Relevant URLs

While résumés tend to be pretty cut-and-dried documents, there
are ways to give hiring managers a better sense of your
personality and expertise without breaking some of the standard
résumé guidelines, Augustine explains. "Include links to websites
that highlight your personal brand. This information should be
grouped with your contact information at the top of your résumé.
In addition to including the URL to your LinkedIn profile, you
may want to include the links to your blog or online portfolio."

A word to the wise: If you decide to add this information to your
résumé, make sure you're keeping these sites current and that the
focus of these sites supports your personal brand and is relevant
to your current job goals, she says. "For instance, if you're
searching for a job in operations, there's no need to share the
link to your blog about your favorite musician."

9. Verbs

In your résumé, you want your language to be direct and succint.
Rely on verbs, not adjectives, to convey a sense of action and
accomplishment.